More than thirty years ago, flammability standards were instituted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission under 16 C.F.R. §1632. These standards addressed the flammability requirements of mattresses to resist ignition upon exposure to smoldering cigarettes. However, the Code of Federal Regulations failed to address the need for mattresses to resist ignition upon exposure to small open flames, such as produced by matches, fighters, and candles.
Technological advances have proven to provide mattresses, as well as bedding constituents, with significantly better flammability protection. In light of these advancements, the California Legislature has mandated that the Consumer Product Safety Commission establish a revised set of standards that will ensure mattresses and bedding pass an open flame ignition test. Known as Assembly Bill 603 (AB 603), California Legislature has further mandated that the revised set of standards go into affect Jan. 1st of 2004.
Flame retardant staple fiber is known in the art. Further, flame retardant fiber has been utilized in the fabrication of nonwoven fabrics for bedding applications. Nonwoven fabrics are suitable for use in a wide variety of applications where the efficiency with which the fabrics can be manufactured provides a significant economic advantage for these fabrics versus traditional textiles. However, nonwoven fabrics have commonly been disadvantaged when fabric properties are compared, particularly in terms of surface abrasion, pilling, and durability in multiple-use applications. Hydroentangled fabrics have been developed with improved properties which are a result of the entanglement of the fibers or filaments in the fabric providing improved fabric integrity. Subsequent to entanglement, fabric durability can be further enhanced by the application of binder compositions and/or by thermal stabilization of the entangled fibrous matrix.
More recently, hydroentanglement techniques have been developed which impart raised profiled elements to nonwoven fabrics by embossing the fabric or by subjecting the fabric to hydraulic energy upon a foraminous surface, such as a wire screen, a metal perforated drum, a three-dimensional belt, or image transfer device. Exemplary foraminous surfaces are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,706 issued on Dec. 23, 1969 to inventor Evans, U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,738 issued on Nov. 16, 1999 to inventor Fleissner, U.S. Pat. No. 6,460,233 issued on Jan. 9, 2001 to inventor Noelle, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,764 issued on Mar. 24, 1992 to inventor Drelich, et al., all of which are hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth fully herein.
Heretofore, nonwoven fabrics have been advantageously employed for manufacture of flame retardant fabrics, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,489,256, issued Dec. 3, 2002 to inventor Kent, et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference. Typically, nonwoven fabrics employed for this type of application have been entangled and integrated by needle-punching, sometimes referred to as needle-felting, which entails insertion and withdrawal of barbed needles through a fibrous web structure. While this type of processing acts to integrate the fibrous structure and lend integrity thereto, the barbed needles inevitably shear large numbers of the constituent fibers, and undesirably create perforations in the fibrous structure. Needle-punching can also be detrimental to the strength of the resultant fabric, requiring that a fabric have a relatively high basis weight in order to exhibit sufficient strength.
In addition, nonwoven fire retardant fabrics have been produced for mattress components and bedding constituents that do not comply with the requirements asserted in Technical Bulletin 603 of the State of California Department of Consumer Affairs (TB-603). A need exists for a structurally stable nonwoven fabric that meets the requirements of TB-603 and suitable for various end-use applications including, but not limited to bedding constituents, such as mattress pads, mattress ticking, comforters, bedspreads, quilts, coverlets, duvets, pillow covers, as well as other home uses, protective apparel applications, upholstery, and industrial end-use applications.